What is your favorite screen version of Dicken's A CHRISTMAS CAROL? (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

This one is very easy for me. For me, THE best version would have to be George C. Scott's version. IMHO, he was, is, and always will be, the best Ebeneezer Scrooge to ever utter the line BAH HUMBUG! I never missed this version whenever it came on at Christmas time growing up, and it kinda scared me when I was little, but I love it now as an adult even more!
I've seen all the other's, the original with Alister Simms was pretty good, but I didn't care for the production values, it looks well, cheap IMHO. I love the George C. Scott version because it's haunting and lush in it's photography, I love the town where it was filmed, I think it was called Strewsberry England, just a beutiful city. Not to mention the fact that it had, hands down, the best, and spookiest, ghost of Christmas future ever!
I just marvel at Scott's performance at the end when he wipes away the dirt to reveal his name on the grave stone, when he starts crying and pleading with the ghost, he really makes me believe that he will be a changed man from now on.
Another version I like a lot is the musical version with Albert Finny called Scrooge. I love that song he sings near the beginning called 'I Hate People', that's pretty much how I feel, so it work's for me.
Don't be a Scrooge, tell me your favorites. Merry Christmas BAH HUMBUG! Just kidding!

 

[Jon_B]

I really liked the one with Patrick Stewart. I also liked Scrooged with Bill Murray.

Jon

 

[Greg_S_H]

Definitely the Alastair Sim version.

 

[Jim_F]

The Mr. Magoo version.

 

[george kaplan]

The 1951 version is my favorite traditional one, and Scrooged is my favorite overall.

 

[SalMaglie]

Although not seen very often these days, the 1938 version with Reginald Owen in the lead role, and most of the Lockhart family doing the Cratchit's(including TV's Lost in

Space June Lockhart playing the daughter in her film debut) is worth a look. Still, I'd have to go with the 1951 version with the more scroogier Alistair Sim. This version seems to capture the dark Dickensian mood better than the 1938 film.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I really liked the one with Patrick Stewart. I also liked Scrooged with Bill Murray.

I probably would have liked Patrick Stewart's TV version better if I hadn't already been spoiled by seeing his live one-man version (twice) in which he plays all the parts. If you ever have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

Otherwise, my favorite is Scrooged.

M.

 

[Scott Barnhart]

The Albert Finney musical version is by far my favorite.

 

[Jeff_A]

Scrooge (1951) was the defining version for me.

 

[Robert McDonald]

George C. Scott for me

 

[Dave L]

Have to agree with the Albert Finney musical version, with a nod to Bill Murray's "Scrooged"

 

[Cees Alons]

The Alastair Sim version (actually called "Scrooge") is my favourite, but because I like the story itself very much, I also love several other versions.

George C. Scott is brilliant as Scrooge and I even like the Muppet version (with Michael Caine). One of my litmus tests for this story is whether or not Scrooge's bitter, but really love-starving character is sufficiently explained by his youth on a boarding school, as Dickens does, but too often underexposed in film and/or TV versions.

Cees

 

[Neil Joseph]

Promise not to laugh!!

A Muppet Christmas Carol.

 

[Kevin M]

My two favorites are..
1938's A Christmas Carol with Reginald Owen as Scrooge.
1970's musical Scrooge with Albert Finny Fox is coming out with this on DVD in the near future...what can I say except..
Thank you very much! Thank you very much! That's the nicest thing that anyone ever done foa Me!

 

[Scott Barnhart]

Kevin,

Do you have a URL for your info that the 1970 Scrooge will soon be on DVD? This is the best DVD news I have heard in ages! Please, God, let them do it right!!

 

[Jack Briggs]

I don't see how there's any competition for the Alistair Sim version. My goodness, he is Scrooge.

 

[cafink]

Muppets is my favorite!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I'm with Jack on this one, the 1951 Alistair Sim version is my favorite. I'd love to see a proper restoration of this one, the current DVD is o.k., but could be much better.

"I haven't lost my senses, Bob, I've come to them."

 

[Kevin M]

Sorry Scott, it seems that the forum archives don't go back far enough.

It was Ron Epstein himself that said it was coming out but he didn't (at least I don't remember if he did) say when.

Ron? do you have this info?

 

[John Kilduff]

"Scrooged" is my favorite interpretation. Setting the classic tale against the backdrop of the TV networks in the late 1980s is genius. Besides that, the casting is positively demented.

Sincerely,

John "Boy, does that suck!" Kilduff